THANKS TO ALL who've asked about the progress of the updated second edition of LOSER: The Real Seattle Music Story.

The book's coming along, and should be off to press by month's end (knock-on-Formica).

Some of the new material might appear on these pages in forthcoming weeks.

Until then, please enjoy the following music-related fun links.

• Local label Laundry Room Records has a less-than-positive image of major-label employment policies...

• There is no finer music zine published in the PacNW than Cool and Strange Music...

• According to Silkworm's Tim Midgett, "A few of these records really are necessities as far as I'm concerned. Maybe not on food-water-shelter level, but as close as a record can get...."

• Why should one going-nowhere-fast indie label try to sue another one? You guess's as good as mine....

• From Skratchcast, Seattle's world-dominatin' hiphop streamcaster: "If that 75-year old white woman at every single Seattle show can make it, then so can you...."

• A random band-name generator...

• All that can be said is thank goodness Vancouver's infamous singer/producer/DJ/interviewer Nardwaur the Human Serviette is recovering from his recent, sudden medical scare, so he can keep on forcing "celebrities" to converse like normal men and women....

• Hooray for flexi-discs!

• And a few words on behalf of the REAL monsters of rock....

• A handy glossary of rock-talk cliches: "Interesting: Trying to be unusual; wrong (as in that's an interesting chord)..."

• Not exactly a whole lotta love...

• Ready for Backstreet Boys porn? "Angie started her path down Nick's body again. She unbuttoned his pants and unzipped his zipper. Nick moaned softly...."

• ...And a whole site devoted to making fun of the Backstreets and other "boy bands"....

• The almost-linear path from the Partridge Family to N'Sync....

• From Forbes, of all places, a look at Internet CD sales from the alternating POVs of a double-platinum band and one that wishes to be (no "art for art's sake" DIY viewpoints allowed here, natch)....

• Something that to my knowledge has only been done in my town once, but Phoenix has a full-time band devoted to: Punk Rock Karaoke!...

• This strange-music collector lets you look at his LP covers but not listen to any of the records themselves (the tease)....

• But this site, on the other hand, gives you about as many seconds of each unclassic disc as most of you can probably stand....